effect be temporary, leaves its effect for a better ideal. Tennyson said, "Courage, sir; that makes man or woman look their godliest." Courage is a personal duty. To shrink from pain and danger when we are called on to bear the one and confront the other is to renounce our moral obligations. In the absence of courage there can be no security against any moral declension, since the coward may be bullied and frightened into any crime. It has been often said that because a woman will jump from a mouse that she is a coward, but we have seen that woman have a immense amount of determination and "courage sans peur" when it is called forth, as in the preceding examples, and these are only a very few culled from the history of a time when all showed their courage to a high degree. The passive physical courage which consists in patient endurance of bodily pain is much more frequent in woman than in men, all physicians admit. This passive courage is a grand and beautiful virtue, but not the only kind to which they may pretend. Then we may be allowed to boast that, when great demands are made on the physical courage of women, it has not been found lacking. The women of the War of the Revolution were not only patiently courageous, but had the active courage, too, of their convictions, just as the earlier patriotic women, who all met death gloriously. Such are Judith, Zenobia, Joan of Arc and Charlotte Corday. To whatever line of heroism men may point, there also we will almost surely find a woman deserving of the same cross of honor; as in the Spanish-American War, when the nurses went from all over the country to face yellow and typhoid fever, small-pox and all the terrible experiences of the battlefield, from whence some never returned and others only reached home to die. Thousands of miles away, from far-off Manila, comes the word that some of the brightest Kansas women are at the front with their husbands, brothers and sweethearts, nursing both in the hospitals and on the battlefields, giving first aid to the wounded. One of these brave women sat by the side of a young man in the trenches in one of the worst engagements and cooly passed hirn cartridges as fast as he could fire. Another one writes home. that "it is glorious work," and that she is "fiercely happy." Who would dream of saying that Miss Clara Barton, and those connected with the Red Cross, did not possess the very highest kind of courage? We assimilate so rapidly that in the blood of the pure American will be found the practical sense of England, the stern principle of Scotland, the brightest wit of Ireland, the suavity of France and the philosophy of Germany. The typical Brother Jonathan is at once a cosmopolitan and an American. Through him we see in the future, "the distant gates of Eden gleam." Just now we are still in the throes of war, and all of us are looking anxiously to the future. But the end is not yet, and we can only say, with Longfellow : "Sail on, O ship of State! Sail on, O Union, strong and great! With all the hopes of future years, Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea! Our hearts, our hopes are all with thee; Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, Are all with thee, are all with thee." NELLIE V. MARK, M. D. MILITARY DEED FROM FRANCE. AN interesting document has recently found its way into the library of the Historical Society of the State of Illinois. It may be called a military deed from the French government to the United States, of that portion of the Louisiana territory under the command of the Lieutenant Governor at St. Louis. The document is dated January 12, 1804, and is signed by Count Loussat, the Colonel Prefect Commissioner of the French government. It is written from New Orleans and bears the coat of arms of the Louisiana territory. The document is an order from the Prefect to Mr. Dehalt de Lasuze, Lieutenant Governor of the Territory, stationed at St. Louis, directing him to turn over the military post under his jurisdiction to Captain Stoddard, of the United States Army. President Jefferson had just concluded the Treaty for the purchase of the Louisiana territory from France and this document is interesting as bearing on the details of the transfer. It reads as follows: Marine Colonies Louisiana New Orleans, 21st, 1st winter month The Colonel Prefect Commissioner of the French Government Sir: I forward this day to Mr. Stoddard, Captain of Artillery of the United States Army, charged to go and take possession of the Territory and Settlements where you command for His Catholic Majesty, the following documents: First. An unsealed letter from Messrs de Salcedo, and Marquis de Casa Calvo, Commissioners of his Catholic Majesty, bearing date Dec. 31st which commands you to give possession of the Post to the officer or agent to whom I shall have given the power to receive it in virtue of the Treaty of St. Idelfonso, which retroceded Louisiana to the French Republic. Second. A letter from me to Mr. Stoddard itself concerted by the commissioners of the United States sent here for the execution of the Treaty of Paris by which France herself subsequently ceded Louisiana to the United States. In this letter bearing date of this day I transfer my powers to this officer-to receive from you in the name of the French Republic the Military and Civil possession of that part of Louisiana over which you command and at the same time I authorize him to then keep it for the United States. Third. A letter also from me of this same day to Mr. Pierre Chouteau by which I give him all the power necessary to proceed to make with you or cause to be made for France, an inventory, estimation, and appraisement of the structures and buildings (other however than the fortifications and works) belonging to His Catholic Majesty in the places under your command which must also be delivered to us. Fourth. Letters from the Commissioners of His Catholic Majesty dated also this same day 31st Dec and unsealed to: Don Pedro Dehault de la Suze-Commander at New Bourbon. Don Francisco Valle-Commander at Ste. Genevieve. Don Louis Lorimer-Commander at Cape Girardeau. Don Jean Lavallee-Commander at Madrid. The object and tenor of these letters is similar to the one these commissioners wrote you. I am ignorant as to whether these commanders are thoroughly enough under your control for it to have sufficed to make known my wishes to you alone in order for them to conform to them; but the distances are so great and mistakes would be regrettable that I hazzard writing direct to them also. Fifth. I send then besides to the American Captain, Mr. Stoddard, a separate circular to each of these commanders. I pray you Sir to be kind enough in all these changes of dominations to receive the divers powers I announce to you in all that concerns the French Republic as also the persons who will present them to you. I have the honor to salute you. Received 19th February 1804 D. Deeded 27th March 1804 D. About four years ago, this document was discovered among the effects of a descendant of Lieutenant Governor Lasuze, at New Orleans. Its value was recognized by Mr. Armand Hawkins, an antiquarian of that city, who was authorized to dispose of it. He communicated with the different States with whose history this document was associated and asked for bids for its purchase. Congressman Hinrichsen, at that time Secretary of State of Illinois, after an investigation to test the genuineness of the document, purchased it for the sum of $500 for the State Historical Library. The document is written on parchment in the French of that day. In addition to the coat of arms of the Territory, it bears the seal of the Colonial Prefect. The writing is perfectly legible, being apparently as clear as the day it was written. LADY CORNELIA'S SPINET. LONG stretches of white turnpike, with fields of ripening grain on either side, and in the distance hills that fade into the blue horison. This is "Middle Tennessee" at the present time. Even so far back as 1790 there were a few good roads, and homes built by workmen sent from the "Mother State," built in colonial style with white corinthian pillars and polished oaken floors. At the door of one of these homes, built of stone, in the year 1793, a carriage stopped. This carriage, lately built in a Boston workshop, was the first seen in Tennessee, and had been followed on the latter part of its journey by a large and motley company, constantly reinforced by recruits all anxious to see this wonderful structure on wheels, with postilions, and drawn by four horses, reach its destination. When the carriage stopped there was a general halt. A black footman, descending from a seat on the box, solemnly opened the door, and Sir Peyton Skipwith, the owner of the "Rock House" and thousand acres surrounding it, descended from the carriage, and assisted a young and elegant woman to alight. This was unexpected and a slight cheer went up from the curious onlookers. To this the new land proprietor and his fair companion gravely responded with a bow, and with a lingering glance at the setting sun and the broad acres of their new domain they entered the house, and the happiness of Sir Peyton Skipwith and his bride was only to be surmised by the outside world. This outside world, a new settlement with the last newspaper from the "Mother State" a month old, and languishing to hear the latest fashion in kerchief and stomacher, and the news of Mr. Washington's reëlection, naturally took an absorbing interest in the latest acquisition to their society; but with the exception of an occasional courteous word from Sir Peyton, and a smile and bow from Lady Cornelia's carriage, their curiosity concerning the newcomers received no encouragement. The young couple were probably too much absorbed in each other to be properly benevolent, and public interest was beginning to wane when a rumor was circulated that excited a thrill in all. Built on Sir Peyton's ground was a small church, where the early settlers met to unite in divine worship. As they passed to and fro on these pious pilgrimages-the rumors were conflicting, but one fact was unanimously declared-each evening, when the darkness came on, wonderful and mysterious sounds were heard to issue from the brilliantly-illuminated |